Washington - President Donald Trump on Tuesday said he would pardon Susan B Anthony, a women's rights activist who was arrested for voting in 1872, before women had the right to vote in the United States.
"Later today I will be signing a full and complete pardon for Susan B Anthony," Trump said. "She was never pardoned. What took so long?"
Anthony was one of the most prominent leaders of the women's suffrage movement, according to the National Women's History Museum website. She was also a champion of temperance, abolition, labour rights and equal pay for equal work.
Her arrest in New York in 1872, when she was tried and fined 100 dollars for her crime, drew national attention to the women's rights movement.
Anthony died in 1906, 14 years before women secured the right to vote with the ratification of the 19th amendment to the US constitution in 1920.
Trump made the announcement at a White House ceremony celebrating the 100th anniversary of the amendment's passage.
"It was a monumental victory for equality, for justice, and a monumental victory for America," the president said.
Trump is trailing his Democratic presidential challenger Joe Biden in the polls, including among women.
Trump has previously used his relatively unchecked presidential power to issue commutations and pardons to political supporters and acquaintances.
He recently commuted the over three-year prison sentence of his former aide and friend Roger Stone, who was convicted of lying to Congress and witness tampering during the probe of Russian meddling in the 2016 elections.
DPA